Fear and Pain
by DaughterofHephaestus03
Summary: Summary: Annabeth is the average girl; she's smart, funny, caring, beautiful and a killer sportsgirl. Overall, just perfect... On the outside. At home she's brutally abused by her violent stepmother. But, when a handsome boy called Percy Jackson enters her life, what chaos will erupt?
1. Chapter 1

Fear and pain

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HOO characters so, please calm down... if you're freaking out... which is unlikely, you've read hundreds of these.

Summary: Annabeth is the average girl; she's smart, funny, caring, beautiful and a killer sportsgirl. Overall, just perfect... On the outside. At home she's brutally abused at home by her violent stepmother. But, when a boy called Percy Jackson enters her life, what chaos will corrupt?

"Annie..." a muffled voice rang through my ears. I felt sharp contact on my cheeks. There was only one solution, my step-mother was slapping me awake. "Get up you fucken...lazy girl..."she slurred, her drunken tone rich. She kept on slapping me until I could no longer tolerate it. I aggressively pushed her away. Suddenly, I knew what I had done. She fell back onto the wall, sliding down it, laughing psychotically. After about a minute of terrifying cackles, she used my dresser to haul herself up, tipping it over, smashing my fragile jars and glasses. But, that was far from my biggest worry right now. My step mother was walking toward me, murderously. "Oh, Annie..." she growled, stepping toward me slowly. My heart was beating impossibly fast. I was petrified. She laughed deeply "I think we both know what happens when you do that..." She was right. I did know what was going to happen. As if on cue, she punched me, right in the left eye. I yelped in pain as the wave of agony coursed from my eye to the pit of my stomach, making me feel sick. I clutched my eye feeling the warm pulses of bruising touch the senses of my palm. I started to feel the wetness of tears drain from my eye before my stepmother brutally grabbed my face "you useless bitch!" she screeched. I could smell the unpleasant stench of beer and vodka on her breath. As if that wasn't enough, she spat in my face and pushed me back so hard, I could hear my neck crack. All of a sudden, I couldn't focus on anything other than pain. Not my stepmother sneering at me. Not the fact that some of my most sentimental items were smashed on the ground. Just pain. My stepmother scoffed and stormed toward the door, opened it violently and screamed deafeningly "Get up!" and slammed the door of my room or, what I like to call it, my dungeon. The door locked from the outside, so I could never have privacy. The room was small, so small that you had to kick the door in because it hit my bed a quarter of the way in and everything was cramped. The room was very cold. The floor was concrete and stained with blood from past abuses. The roof was cracked and occasionally, huge spiders crawled out from the cracks and scare the life out of me. When I recovered my senses, I got up and changed into a black hoodie, jeans and black converse. I brushed my hair and pulled my hood as far over my face as I could so, no one could see my black eye. I never could tell anyone about this abuse. My friends would kill her. Literally kill her. But, my worry was that if they tried, they would fail. My stepmother can kill anyone if she finds the motivation. I couldn't do that to my friends. I slung my backpack over my shoulder as I walked out of my room. As I turned the bronze painted door knob, I caught a glimpse of the thick, white scar running up my left shoulder, crawling up my neck to the left side of my jaw line. I brought my hand up and brushed my fingertips against the scar, flashing me back to the painful memory.

_I sat there, unable to even think of anything apart from dying. I was bleeding profusely. Every breath stung and burned like was on fire. My mother was scowling at me, Swiss army knife in hand, covered in my blood "Die. Die, you useless rat." She hissed... _

I flinched at the memory, my other hand brushing away from the doorknob. I regained my senses and twisted the doorknob and pulled it in strongly. I braced myself for more abuse but, when I squeezed through the narrow exit, I found my stepmother, passed out on the floor, a few meters away, a bottle of Smirnoff in her hand, the clear liquid spilling everywhere. She snored like a pig. Her stringy red and grey hair was wet and stuck to the floorboards from the alcohol. Her fat and stinky body was lifeless and vomit stained. She wasn't the ideal stepmother, at all. I silently stepped over her drunk self and when I was out of the apartment, I ran as far and fast as I could. I took off past starbucks and walmart. I was running out of breath but, I didn't stop until I stepped within the school gates. I stopped within the safety of the school. Puffed out, I put my hands on my knees and steadied my breathing. Suddenly, I felt a firm hand on my shoulder. I freaked out and jumped away. My heart was racing. What if she came here to abuse me? I was extremely scared until I heard the friendly laughter, I knew wasn't my stepmothers.

"Scared you, huh?" the voice said. I turned and saw the girl who was my best friend, Thalia Grace. I put on a fake smile, which seemed to work pretty convincingly. I put up with my stepmothers abuse for nine years. It started when I was seven. I don't remember my real mother. She left when I was four years old and my dad went looking for her, keeping me in the "care" of my stepmother. She was kind and loving at the start, but that was all an act. As soon as my father left, she changed into an alcohol and drug addicted psychopath. My father never returned. I always wondered where he was. Was he even alive?

"Annabeth?" Thalia asked, snapping me back to reality. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow

"What?" I asked. She laughed.

"You were like MIA for about two minutes." She replied, smirking. I couldn't think of anything else to do so, I just smiled sheepishly. She laughed again. I grunted.

"Will you stop laughing at me?" I yelled. She looked at me in shock "I'm already having a shitty day!" after that, I realised how harsh it was. She looked at me with narrow eyes.

"what do you me-" she started. Then it came to me that my hood was down. She could see my black eye. "Shit! What happened to your eye?" she asked as her eyes went from narrow to wide. I blanked. What was I going to say? I couldn't think of anything.

"Um... uh" I stuttered. She looked at me expectantly, her hands placed on her hips. I had to think of something, fast. I looked around the school yard, desperately seeking an excuse. I saw a kid falling over. Without thinking, I blurted out "I fell!" Thalia looked hesitant.

"You... fell?" She said, unsure of what to believe. I sighed.

"I fell into..." I started. I looked around again. I saw a railing. Perfect! "I fell into a railing this morning." I said, proud of what I came up with. She narrowed her eyes.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded frantically. She raised her eyebrows.

"Alrighty then..." she said. I felt the tonne of bricks being lifted off my shoulders, now that she had dropped the subject. "Anyway," Thalia started, turning my attention to her "um, my cousin's starting today. I think he'll be in our class since my dad and uncle wouldn't let him be in a class with no one he knew." Thalia said. A smile played on my lips, thinking about how protective they were of him. Then I wondered what it would be like having someone protective of me. Not someone who wanted to kill me.

"Yeah. what about him?" I asked. She turned to me, smirking.

"Just... You know..." she said and nudged my arm "letting you know..." I looked at her, unamused. She rolled her eyes "No, but seriously." She said abruptly "He's cool, funny and he's pretty good looking. But, don't be fooled by his looks. I know you hate the popular crowd, thinking they're better than everyone because they're hot but, he's really sweet, funny and caring." I looked at her, eyebrow cocked. She returned the look and began talking again "Also, he's probably going to be around us a lot so, just giving you a warning before you judge a book by its cover." I nodded slowly, signifying that I knew what she meant.

"Look. If he doesn't get on my nerves, I'll be nice to him." I said, giving in. She smiled from ear to ear.

"Thank you so much!" she said and hugged me. I flinched but, returned the hug, patting her back. She pulled away "That is why you're my best friend." She said, walking toward her locker. Then, her cousin popped up, out of nowhere

"Thalia!" He yelled, obviously aggravated. Thalia jumped.

"Oh my gods, Nico!" She yelled "you scared the crap out of me!" Nico smiled, clearly proud of his work but, it was short lived. His smile turned into a teasing frown.

"You said I was your best friend!" He said and pouted teasingly. She chuckled.

"Nico," she started; placing a hand on his shoulder "I said you were my favourite cousin!" she smiled as he shot her a glare.

"Oh, that's fabulous!" he said, sarcastically. We laughed "I'm your favourite by family! You know you can't choose your family!" he yelled. Thalia gave him the sympathy eyes

"And that's why, Nico." She said as she pinched his cheek. He slapped her away

"Ouch!" he yelled as he rubbed his cheek "You know that being one year younger than you doesn't mean I'm inferior to you!" he glared at Thalia

"Oh, Nico." Thalia said, pitifully "that's exactly what it means!" She grinned

"Yeah, yeah." He said, rolling his eyes. Thalia laughed "Where's Percy?" he asked. Thalia shrugged.

"I dunno. Probably getting enrolled. He should be late for math because of it as well." Thalia replied. Nico snorted

"Lucky him!" he said. Nico was in the same grade as us but, since he was much more smart than his grade, he had to get bumped a year. Nico was in our classes and in our homeroom. **(to you people who don't know what homeroom is, it's a period where you bludge and get notes and such. It had never occurred to me as being a class because you do nothing apart from play games on your phone or iPad or iPod, whatever device of your selection. My database is outdated by 117 days now... L0L. Anyways... Back to the story!)** Nico was okay... I guess, I mean apart from his really dark and gloomy personality. Thalia scoffed.

"Toughen up, Nico!" she said, punching him on the arm. I shuddered at the sight. Thankfully no one noticed. Nico grabbed his arm in pain.

"Hey!" He yelled, rubbing the spot Thalia had punched. She turned to the lockers and clicked in a combination. I didn't know she changed lockers. The code was accepted and Thalia opened the locker, reaching in and grabbed a candy bar and locked the locker again.

"I didn't know you changed lockers." I said. She looked at me and laughed.

"I didn't." She replied.

"But...how?" Nico asked

"It's a little trick I learned. This locker..." She slammed on the locker with her hand "Is Wendell's." She said and burst out laughing. Nico and I exchanged looks. After a while of laughing, she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and looked at us "Why are you acting like that?" She asked. Nico looked at me and then Thalia.

"A number of reasons and how did you know Wendell had candy in his locker?" He asked. Thalia chuckled

"Have you seen that kid? He looks like a bowling ball! Having candy in his locker is a guarantee." She said. I raised my eyebrows

"Alrighty then." I said. "Do you need to go to your locker at all?" I asked.

"Hell no! It's maths, Annabeth. You of all people should know I don't try in that subject!" We all laughed and made our way to homeroom.

**Yes, I know it was a shitty chapter but, maybe I'll improve if you give me a little "Constructive Criticism" I'll improve! It wasn't really that exciting but, I'll build up the excitement on the way! Please stay with me fellow reader(s). I really want some of my stories to be read! This is my first Fanfiction published so, cut me some slack if you're really good. If you're bad, like me... You ain't alone, brah!**

**Love you all, Abbey xoxo **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Percy

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO.

Well, I guess this was it. This was Goode high. I looked up the sandstone walls of the school and saw the sign "Goode High School, Striving to be its best since 2006. "Wow! That's a lot of years!" I said to myself.

"Talking to yourself again, eh Percy?" a girls voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a slender, brown haired girl with tanned skin and dark eyes. She wore a pair of denim jeans and a black top under her brown mini jacket. I knew this girl.

"Bianca?" I asked. She nodded and opened her arms in a hugging invite. I ran over to her and hugged her. Bianca was my older cousin. She had graduated from Goode a couple years back and studies to be a palaeontologist. I hadn't seen her since she had been studying overseas but, I always texted her at three o'clock in the morning because it was five o'clock in the evening there.

"Oh my gods!" I said letting go of her. She beamed at me. "I can't believe you're here!" I asked cupping my hands to my mouth. She smiled

"want me to pinch you, Jackson?" She asked and tried to pinch me as I was pushing her hands away. We were laughing so hard, Bianca started coughing and couldn't breathe. Bianca has really bad asthma so, we stopped before someone went to hospital.

"Anyway, why are you here?" I asked as we walked toward the front office. She let out a hurtful gasp

"Don't you want me here?" she asked, putting on her puppy dog face

"No! No! No! I, I do! It's just-" I was cut off by her hysteric laughing. I raised an eyebrow in utter confusion

"Don't worry! I was just messing around!" She said. I rolled my eyes. She laughed again and pinched my cheek "You're so cute when you're annoyed!" She babied.

"Gah!" I yelled, pushing her hand away.

"Well, I'm here to see my little brother and cousins. Have'nt seen you all in months so, I'll pick Thalia, Nico and you up after school!" She said and ruffled my hair "see you later, Perce!" she skipped off to her black audi r8, leaving me alone in the school driveway. I tuned to the admissions office, took a deep breath and walked into my new school.

To be honest, the admissions lady wasn't the most sane person in the world. First of all, she commented on my hair, saying it looked like "a black kafuffle that was in desperate need of a snip snip". What does "kafuffle" even mean? And, why did she call it "snip snip" instead of "haircut"? Secondly, she ate a bagel and took a chewed up piece of lettuce leaf out of her mouth and put it in her pocket. When I gave her a weird look she raised her finger to her lips and said "It's a secret. Shhhh". Why would someone eat some lettuce, take it out and deposit it in their pocket? Last, but not least, I said my name was Percy and I was a new student. She stared at me blankly for a moment, walked backwards to the desk in the office, took a little pot plant cactus from the surface of the desk and threw it against the wall. I didn't know how to respond to that. Thankfully, a middle aged woman with blonde hair twisted into a bun and wearing a grey pantsuit walked in, examined the scene and ushered the lady to take her medication. She walked toward me, apologised and enrolled me. I took the slip of paper, a school diary, a schedule, a lot of books and a plain black backpack. I thanked her for her service and organised my stuff. When I had finished, I walked through a set of automatic glass doors and to my first class, Math with Miss Quirk.

I finally found my classroom which was in a pretty spot. It was on a third story balcony overlooking the school gardens. Above the door, It read"MR43" and that was the room allocated on my schedule. I gave the wooden door three firm knocks and waited for a response. Within a few seconds, I found a response with raven black hair and electric blue eyes. Thalia! I smiled and opened my mouth to speak but she lifted a finger to her lips and shook her head pleadingly. I raised an eyebrow. What was this all about?

"Who is it, Miss Grace?" I heard a frail voice breaking the silence. An old woman with grey hair, glasses, a purple dress and a walking frame hobbled into the doors view. She shot me a nasty look "Who are you, young man?" she asked, bitterly. I shuffled on the spot "Um, I'm Percy Jackson. I new here." I said nervously, handing her the slip. She snatched it away with her pale, bony fingers. She squinted, examining the slip through her glasses. She looked toward me. "Get in, latecomer." She said with a disgusted look on her face. I carefully stepped into the big classroom, taking in my surroundings. Some football players were launching spitballs at scrawny looking nerds wearing colourful vests and big glasses. I saw popular girls on the other side of the room, flicking their blonde hair and fiddling with their excessive bracelets and rings. I also saw a table full of the exact opposite looking girls and guys. There was my cousin, Jason. He was muscly and blonde and had icy blue eyes. He was also tanned and had a small scar on his to lip. He sat next to a girl with tanned skin, multicoloured eyes and choppy hair. She seemed to be talking to a girl with a similar skin tone, curly brown hair and gold eyes. She was holding hands with a guy with the one of the most muscular body features ive ever seen. He had an Asian complexionbut, his face was babyish in contrast. There were Nico and Thalia sitting next to a girl with curly blonde hair. Her back was to me so I didn't see her face. I didn't know any of those guys so, I decided to sit with the type of guys I did at my old school. I sat with the football players. From the corner of my eye, I saw Nico nudge Thalia and Thalia turn toward me. But, I continued to exceed on the football players. They still remained oblivious to the fact I was walking toward them. I nervously cleared my throat in attempt for them to acknowledge the fact I was there. Needless to say, it worked. They looked up at me with beady eyes and smiled with missing teeth.

"Hey, bud! What can we do for ya?" a boy with beefy arms and a tight jersey asked. He had a thick English accent and seemed nice enough to respond to.

"Um, is it alright to sit with you guys?" I asked desperately. They smiled around the group.

"Of course, man! You seem cool. Feel free to sit with us at lunch too!" A guy with dark skin and a big chest offered. I looked toward Thalia's group. Nico and Thalia were looking at me with baffled expressions. The blonde girl looked away as soon as I turned toward them. She seemed to have a dark bruising on her eye. Geez, if I saw it right, it would of been as painful as anything but, It was only a split second glimpse. I'm sure she didn't even have a black eye at all.

**Yes, I know! Percabeth has not yet met but, I promise you it will happen in the next chapter if you stick with me! This was probably the shortest chapter there will be so, if your panties are in a wad, unwad them. If you live in Australia, then, you should all know this is the end of winter break and I'll be returning to school. But, I'll keep updating as regularly as possible. Besides, maths homework is the only one that needs doing anyway. So, keep reading my awesome followers and favouriters! **

**Love y'all, Abbey xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three – Annabeth

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson... Pfft Pft Pfft... You know the drill.

So, I guess new boy's making a name of himself already. Things like sitting with the most stupid and tormenting boys in the whole school over sitting with his cousins really gets around. Now, everyone classifies him as "the new cutie". I mean, he is cute and handsome and hot and... Wait, Annabeth what are you doing? He is Thalia's cousin and all but, he is acting like an imbecile. And being an imbecile totally eliminates the fact that you're good looking. It's only lunch and everyone seems to know who he is. Everytime you walk past someone, their conversation provides that one name, Percy Jackson.

Anyway, things got better when my favourite lesson came. And, that lesson was English. I'm dyslexic and ADHD but, reading books sort of adjust when I start reading them. I don't know why. It doesn't happen in maths, history or science. Anyway, we have singular desks so, you don't sit next to anyone which, in a way, is a good thing. You don't have anyone to distract you or copy your work. And also, our teacher seats us in different arrangements every lesson so we don't form a habit of talking to the person sitting across from us. It was a good idea until she put me into my seat on the side of Percy Jackson.

We were a quarter of the way into our lesson when Percy tried to talk to me.

"Hey, you're Annabeth, right?" he asked. I dropped my pen.

"no." I responded abruptly. I could hear him laugh and I couldn't help but thinking that it was the most amazing sound I've heard in a long time. I shook off that thought. "What's so funny?" I asked looking at him with my face fully turned to him.

"Nothing." He said looking down at his book. He looked up at me as he spoke "It's because-" He was cut off by the sight of my face. "Oh my god, Annabeth! What happened to you? Who did that?" He asked, his amazing sea green eyes filled with concern. I felt my shoulders tense up. I clenched my teeth

"It wasn't a who, it was a what and you don't need to pretend to be concerned." I snapped. He leaned away from me in surprise.

"I'm sorry." He said, looking back down at his book. I rolled my eyes and resumed with my work. "Its just that..." He started again. I groaned in annoyance "You can talk to me if its anything else." He said. I slammed my hands down on my desk in anger. "Look Percy, first, can you tell by my tone I don't want to talk about it? Secondly, can you tell that this conversation ended a few seconds ago? Third, I don't know you, why would I talk to a complete stranger about things in my life that aren't even happening? And fourth, is it so hard to just leave me alone?" I said, my tone frustrated. Percy didn't look hurt, just suspicious. That worried me even more.

"Miss Chase? Do you have something to share?" Mrs Knightly asked, muting the entire class.

"No, Miss. Please, continue." I ushered. She smiled and continued teaching. When I looked toward him, he was still looking at me. I raised an eyebrow at him but he was still looking. His eyes flitted away to scribble down a note. I couldn't read what he was writing but, he ripped it, folded it and before I knew it, it was on my desk. I gently unfolded it, careful not to rip it. Typically, in messy writing it read:

Meet me after school, on the basketball court.

Just then, another note flew on my desk. I unfolded it, a little less carefully this time. It read:

Please.

I giggled a little but stopped when I realised, I WAS FREAKING GIGGLING! I looked at him with an unamused expression. He gave me the puppy dog eyes. I couldn't help but think what beautiful eyes he had. They were every shade of bue and green swirled together making the most incredible eyes I had ever seen. I snapped out of it, rolled my eyes and resumed with my work. I knew he wouldn't try to talk to me for the rest of the lesson, which was good. I also knew I wasn't going to meet him after school, which was smart.

"So, what happened between you and Jackson in English?" Piper asked. I shook myself out of thoughts of coming home to my mother and thoughts of leaving Percy on the basketball courts. Of course I felt bad about that but, It would be safer and easier if he didn't know, for me and him.

"sorry, what?" I asked Piper. She raised an eyebrow

"are you sure you're okay? I mean you've been out of it ever since we left school to walk home!" She asked with the worry thick in her voice. I shook it off

"No, I just... It's because..." I stammered. She cocked an eyebrow. Her kaleidoscope eyes seemed to be pulling the truth out of me. "Agh!" I exasperated, throwing my hands up in the air. "Percy asked me to meet him after school but, I ditched him!" I gave in. Her eyes widened at the statement

"Annabeth!" She gasped, putting a hand to her mouth.

"I'm sorry!" I whined "He's just so frustrating!" I put my hands to the top of my head.

"Better make sure he doesn't hear that." Someone said. Piper and I looked at each other simultaneously with puzzled expression. "Behind you." It said again. We both looked back to see the familiar messy black hair and sea green eyes. Dammit.

"Oh my gods, Percy! I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GODDAMN AXE MURDERER!" Piper exclaimed, squatting down on the floor, hands to her face in shock.

"Relax, Piper." He said, looking at the girl on the floor. His eyes flitted to me "Why would you do that?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Please, like you actually expected me to come." I said. Before I knew it, Piper was off the ground and speaking

"Guys, I'm gonna just walk home. Is that okay?" She said rhetorically, since she immediately turned on her heel and speed walked down the path. I turned back to Percy.

"Happy now?" I asked and turned to walk away but, he grabbed my arm. I freaked out and pulled away aggressively. When I looked back at him, he looked extremely suspicious.

"Annabeth, you can fool your friends but, you're not fooling me." He said. I raised my eyebrows

"Fooling you?" I asked.

"Yes. Your black eye, you freaking out everytime someone touches you, you avoiding talking about what happened, I can put the pieces together, Annabeth." He said.

"Look, theres nothing going on." I said, running a hand through my hair "Just leave me alone." I muttered, turning and jogging home. I was running late and running late means... horrible things. I sped down the alleyways, around corners and jumping staircases. In a few minutes, my small apartment building spun into view. My heart beat in my ears, begging for mercy but, I kept on running until I was at my door. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Quickly, it opened to my fat, beer stained stepmother. She sneered and grabbed my hair, pulling me inside. She slammed the door, making the noise echo around our messy apartment. She placed her hands on her hips "You're late." She growled. I shuffled on the spot "I... I'm sorry." I said. She slapped me, hard. My cheek stung, making my eyes water. I looked up at her.

"wimp." She spat and kicked my left shin, making me fall to the ground in agony. My leg was aching with dull pain; every ache worse than before. She stomped on my feet, making me shuffle against the wall. She scoffed and leaned down to retrieve an empty Smirnoff bottle and threw it at my face. I ducked, hearing the glass shatter, splitting my ears. The glass rained down, cutting the back of my neck and head. She stormed off to her room slamming the door, leaving me crying on the floor.

**This was finished before expected. Oh well. This was sort of hard to write because I'm not really used to Percabeth not getting on. But, I would seem that I'm planning on them getting together pretty soon. Anyways, I'm thinking on putting up a Fanfiction instagram account to give some info on upcoming chapters. Tell me what you think in the reviews. I got smacked on the cheek with a basketball today and my cheek is like a freaking tomato. Anyways, stick with me beloved readers!**

**Love Abbi, xoxo **


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